Gone
by Romione4Life
Summary: After the death of Harry Potter, Ginny is finding it difficult to cope with his absence. Will Ron and Hermione be able to pull her through? AU.


**Author's Note: This was written for round 9 of the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition. I had to write an AU story about what would have happened if Harry had died in Goblet of Fire. The optional prompts I chose are glory, dialogue: "Look, it doesn't matter - forget it, okay?" and sentence: S/he's too quiet these days. **

**Disclaimer: I must not tell lies! I'm not J.K. Rowling, and I do not own any part of Harry Potter.**

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A hush has fallen over Grimmauld Place lately. No one's come out and said it directly yet, but everyone knows exactly why. It's Ginny. She's too quiet these days. The once fierce, spunky young teenager has now become somber and silent.

No one blames her, obviously. Reality has had plenty of time to sink in, and everyone has been plagued with nightmares of that fateful day – when they can actually manage to fall asleep, that is. Ginny is certainly no exception.

Still, nobody expected her to be _this_ unreachable. She's been sitting in her bedroom at Grimmauld Place, only emerging for meals, and sometimes not even then. They've made numerous attempts to talk with her, each one ending in failure.

"We have to do something," Hermione says to Ron one afternoon as they're sitting in the kitchen.

"About what?" Ron replies in confusion.

"Ginny!" Hermione exclaims. "I know she's grieving, but so are the rest of us. We're getting through this together, yet she's so isolated."

"People mourn in different ways, Hermione. This is hers," Ron says.

"I know, but it can't be healthy. She's going to bottle up all her feelings and then someday she's not going to be able to take it anymore. So you can do whatever you want. I'm going to talk to her," Hermione says firmly, getting up and heading for the stairs.

"It's not going to do any good," Ron calls. "We've tried everything."

"She might be more willing to talk if it's just us," Hermione says optimistically, starting to make her way up the stairs. Ron sighs and hurries after her.

By the time he catches up with her, she's knocking on the door to Ginny's bedroom. "Ginny?" she says softly.

"Go away," Ginny says sullenly.

"It's only me and Ron. Can we please come in?" Hermione pleads. There's no answer from Ginny, which Hermione takes as permission to enter. She turns the knob and opens the door to find Ginny staring out the window, refusing to acknowledge their presence.

"Ginny, we need to talk to you," Hermione says.

"Yeah. We're worried about you," Ron adds.

"Thank you for your concern, but I'm fine," Ginny says stiffly.

"No, you aren't!" Hermione says.

"Look, it doesn't matter – forget it, okay?" Ginny says.

"It _does _matter!" Hermione cries. "We want to help you, Ginny, but we can't do that if we don't know what the problem is."

"You don't know what the problem is?" Ginny repeats incredulously, turning to look at her friend and her brother at last. "Perhaps you've forgotten what occurred only a few weeks ago?"

How could they forget? The images of the worst day of their lives would haunt them forever: The sight of Harry's lifeless body, the cackling of Mad-Eye Moody as he morphed into his true shape of Barty Crouch Jr., the screams as the students and staff of Hogwarts realized that the Dark Lord truly had returned in all his evil glory and had murdered their hero...

"Of course we remember what happened," Ron said. "We just want to know why you won't let us in anymore. You used to be so passionate about fighting You-Know-Who, and now it's like all that spirit has been sucked out of you."

"Maybe because it has!" Ginny snapped. "Don't you see? There's no hope left! Just because Voldemort wasn't strong enough to fight us when he killed Harry doesn't mean he won't be back soon. He's probably gathering more followers as we speak, and what are we doing? We're hiding. We're cowards who can't do anything but wait for Voldemort to make the first move."

"Don't speak his name," Ron says, earning himself a glare from Hermione.

"Harry said Voldemort's name. I'll say it if I want to say it," Ginny says.

"Sirius said they're working on a plan to defeat the dark side when the time comes," Hermione interjects, changing the subject. "We'll be ready for him."

"Will we?" Ginny asks. "Now that Harry's gone, who do people have to rally behind? What can they believe in when not even the Boy Who Lived can survive? They're going to accept defeat before the war even begins."

"We can't think like that," Ron says. "If anything, I think Harry's death will give them even more of a reason to fight." He tentatively puts a hand on Ginny's shoulder. "You know what else I think? I think there's something you're not telling us, Gin."

And suddenly, Ginny changes. Her expressionless face fills with emotion; tears come sliding down her face.

"I never told him how I felt about him," she whispers. "I always believed he saw me only as Ron's stupid baby sister. But I wanted him to see me as a friend, at least, and maybe something more. And now it's too late. He's gone forever."

Ron immediately pulls Ginny in for a hug. Hermione, who is crying as well, joins the embrace, and Ginny holds them both tightly.

"That's not true," Hermione says after a few moments. "Harry would never think of anyone like that. He considered you a friend, Ginny, I'm positive."

"Thank you," Ginny says, trying to dry her eyes. "I'm sorry I haven't been talking to anyone. I – I guess I just can't accept the fact that we're never going to see him again."

"It's hard to think about that," Hermione agrees. "But he gets to be with his mum and dad now. He's happy. And I know he wouldn't want us to sit around like this. He'd want us to keep going."

Ron takes a deep breath. "Sure, there's no way we can defeat You-Know… _Voldemort_ for certain, but we need to try. We owe Harry that much, right?"

"Yeah," Ginny says. "I guess we do." There's a glint of the usual fire in her eyes as she brushes away the rest of her tears, which causes Ron and Hermione to smile slightly. They knew the old Ginny was still in there somewhere – they just had to get it out of her.

And somewhere in another place, accompanied by his parents, Harry smiles. He could always count on his friends to pull through. Now it's his turn to pull through for them, even if he can't be with them. He's going to make sure they win this war.


End file.
